Delegates met in two working groups throughout the day. Working Group I (WG I) addressed conference room papers (CRPs) on island
biodiversity, the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI), forest biodiversity and the ecosystem
approach. WG II considered monitoring, assessment and indicators, and addressed CRPs on the Strategic Plan, liability and redress, and
cooperation with other conventions and engagement of stakeholders. Contact and informal groups on access and benefit-sharing (ABS),
financial resources and mechanism, biodiversity and climate change, agricultural biodiversity and biofuels, forest biodiversity, protected
areas, and the budget also met.

On development and implementation of the Strategy beyond 2010, and following discussions among BRAZIL, the
EU, NEW ZEALAND and SAUDI ARABIA, delegates agreed
to retain a reference to “current and emerging” environmental challenges.

Above photo: Delegates from SAUDI ARABIA in
consultation during the WG I session on the Global
Strategy for Plant Conservation.

FOREST BIODIVERSITY:

The AFRICAN GROUP, with others, supported a paragraph calling for suspending any release of genetically modified (GM) trees, pending
assessment of potential impacts.

Above photo: Ben
Turtur Donnie (Liberia)

The EU, with BRAZIL and others, favored an alternative paragraph, reaffirming the need to apply the
precautionary approach to the use of GM trees.

Above photo: Delegates from Slovenia, speaking on behalf of
the EU.

The PUBLIC RESEARCH AND REGULATION INITIATIVE
(PRRI) underscored the need for controlled field releases of GM trees in order to assess potential impacts.